We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mikayla Khramov a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Mikayla, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
The most meaningful project that I have ever worked on has to be the Ray Bradbury Experience Museum. In 2016, I visited Ray Bradbury’s hometown, Waukegan, IL, for the first time. I had the chance to meet some amazing people who were trying to start a museum for Ray Bradbury, as he still has no hometown museum. The following year, I was invited to join the team in an effort to build that museum. Over the next 6 years, I was a volunteer committee member and creative director, working towards the goal of establishing an interactive experience bringing Ray Bradbury’s imagination to life.
We organized engaging programs for the community, both in person and online. One of my strengths was directing our video campaigns. Two of our most successful video campaigns were the “Green Town Virtual Tour” and the “I Met Ray” project. Both of these gave outside viewers the opportunity to look into the community of Waukegan and the memories of Ray Bradbury’s vision of “Green Town”. “Green Town” is Bradbury’s fictionalized interpretation of Waukegan. The amazing thing is that Waukegan is still “Green Town” in so many ways. From the cigar lounge (A Cuban Experience), to the pub (Nightshade and Dark’s Pandemonium Brewing Company), to the tavern (Green Town Tavern), to the theater (Genesee Theater), you feel the energy of Ray Bradbury within today’s community.
In 2023, our museum dreams came to end, as we were unable to acquire proper funding. It was incredibly sad news to accept, and I felt extremely hopeless with the decision. Sometimes it feels like life came and pulled the rug right from under my feet, because this project consumed so much of my time, creativity, energy, and long-term mindset. But I don’t regret any of it. Not only did I get the opportunity to honor my favorite American writer, Ray Bradbury, a huge influence in my life, but I also discovered a home away from home and made the most amazing connections and friendships. This was truly a passion project, and it continues to inspire me to this day.
Building a museum isn’t an easy thing to do. There was no part of me 7 years ago that thought “I want to go into museum curating”. Today, I feel like I spent an extensive amount of time in a hands-on non-profit museum development program. I may not have a degree, but I have an entirely new way of thinking when it comes to building a long-lasting organization for the community.
I was not born in Waukegan, IL. I am from Los Angeles, CA. But in some strange way, I feel like I have been brought back to my own roots. Ray Bradbury did that for me. That’s why I love him so much.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Sometimes you really don’t know where the road might lead you. I try to keep a very open mindset, because I am very passionate about a lot of different things in my life. It would be really hard to give anything up. I feel very lucky to be working in the film industry as an assistant editor. I have had the opportunity to work with some amazing editors and directors and artists. In addition to my assistant editor career, I continue to pursue my passion in music and documentary filmmaking.
There are several musical projects I manage at the moment. I have a country band called Hello Roses, a solo act called Theone, a sister band called The Nesting Dolls, and I am also a hired musician for different bands. Most recently, I was playing bass balalaika for the Siberian surf-rock band, The Red Elvises.
Currently, I am producing a documentary about Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes. This year is the 40th anniversary of the 1983 Disney adaption of Bradbury’s story, and I have been interviewing cast and crew and friends of Bradbury about their experience on set and bringing this dark carnival tale to life.
The hardest part with juggling different projects is juggling different projects. There really is no easy way. A lot of people tell me “you’re doing too much”, “you can’t do two things at once” or “you’re still doing that?”. The answer is “yes I can”. The most important thing is to always keep a positive attitude in everything you do. I work a 10 hour work day, sometimes more. I go home and I work on my next thing. You just have to do it, don’t think about it too much.
Music is something I feel so close to; I can’t imagine not playing music. I incorporate my music into my film projects as well. I think it is a great skill to understand music, especially in film editing. Having a natural sense of rhythm and tone can really influence the feeling of a movie. There are some filmmakers or actors who are also incredible musicians and composers. I admire that a lot, and I strive to be like that in my career.
Is there a mission driving your creative journey?
Right now, I am pursuing one of my biggest passions – making a documentary about Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes. It took Bradbury almost 40 years to make his movie. I think that this is an incredible story of true love. When you think about what it takes to follow a dream, this is it. Ray Bradbury published his novel in 1962, but it took years to develop that story; a lot of people have no idea.
In 1948, Ray Bradbury published a short story called “The Black Ferris” in Weird Tales Magazine. It was this short story that would become one of Disney’s darkest films during the “Dark Disney” era. After an evening attending a screening of Gene Kelly’s “Invitation to the Dance” in the 1950s, Bradbury approached Kelly with the idea of making something together. He pulled out “The Black Ferris” and decided to write the screenplay which would soon be called Something Wicked This Way Comes, a line out of Macbeth. After a series of back-and-forth studio meetings, Kelly informed Bradbury with the bad news that there were no buyers. Instead of giving up his story, Ray Bradbury turned his screenplay into one of his best-selling novels of his career.
Over the following years, he continued searching for the right dreamers. The collection of creatives that ended up bringing this vision to life, went through an extensive, heart-wrenching journey. The version of Something Wicked This Way Comes that came out in 1983 was practically held together with glue to make it to the theatrical release, which by the way only lasted less than a month.
So what was it about this Bradbury story that was so important for him to tell? Why did it take so long to get a studio involved? What happened to Something Wicked This Way Comes? This is an investigative story, digging deep into the mud of memory, and this is a story of impossible dreaming meeting reality. It’s been 40 years since Something Wicked was released. I not only hope to celebrate the amazing cast and crew who worked on the film, but also share the story of the heart of Ray Bradbury.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
One thing that really makes me wonder why I love Ray Bradbury so much is my relationship with my own father. When I was very young, around 2 years old, I remember my parents receiving a VHS tape of Something Wicked This Way Comes. For some reason, I could never get that movie out of my head. It would takes years for me to discover why I had these reoccurring nightmares of dark carnivals, dizzying carousels, devilish smiles, and a tall man in a dark suit and top hat.
When I was 14, I was helping mom clean out the movie shelf under the stairs. In the mess of old tapes and DVDs, I pulled out a VHS with a fading image of Pam Grier veiled in black spider lace. On the side of the tape was a sticker reading “To Janelle and Igor Khramov” – my parents. I asked my mom what this movie was and she said, “Oh you’d love that movie, it’s Ray Bradbury!”. I wasn’t very aware of Bradbury until that day. I put in the tape, the quality was a bit degraded, but even through the scratches, I could see and remember, this was the movie. This was the nightmarish tale that haunted my dreams for years. I felt like I discovered a part of myself. It was no longer a mystery. I was not possessed, it was just Ray Bradbury.
Since that day, I became an avid Bradbury fan. I read the novel, and I read his other novels. I went with my mom to see him speak. His work became one of my greatest loves. And I of course was in love with Mr. Dark. To this day, I feel like I am still searching for him, and I would absolutely join that carnival if he asked me too.
My parents were divorced when I was around 2, the same time I first developed these memories of Something Wicked. After rediscovering the movie, I would take it with me when I visited my dad, and we would watch it together. Sometimes I wonder if he remembers first watching it with me all those years ago, but I never really thought about it until now. In 2013, 10 years ago, my dad passed away unexpectedly. It was a heartbreaking time for my family. Though he was somewhat distant throughout my life, he was still so important to me. I loved him so much. When I watch Something Wicked, I think of him. After all, it is a story about fatherhood. It gets sadder and sadder for me each time I watch it, because I really sympathize with Jason Robard’s character, Mr. Halloway – the father who feels distant from his son, and doesn’t know what to do about it.
Bradbury shared a story about his own father that really hits home for me. When Bradbury was around 12 years old, his beloved uncle died. On the way back from the funeral, Ray Bradbury saw the carnival down by the lakeshore and told his dad to stop the car. He jumped out and ran down to the carnival. He said that he was running from death and running towards life. After an afternoon and evening with Mr. Electrico and the carnival folk, young Ray fell asleep at the carnival. His dad found him, picked up him, and carried him all the way home in his arms.
My dad might not be here anymore, but I still sometimes feel like his spirit is carrying me home from the carnival.
Contact Info:
- Website: mikaylatheonekhramov.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikaylatheonly/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theoneXmusic
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikaylakhramov/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/theonemusic
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheoneKhramova
Image Credits
@lookfromanotherangle, Jesus Lopez